Results for Health

An $11 million pa’anga Intensive Care Unit with five beds for critically ill patients with infectious diseases, including COVID-19, will be installed at Vaiola Hospital by March 2022. It will also facilitate remote telemedicine consultations with ICU specialist doctors and nurses in Japan, and ICU training.

To date, over 10,758 people have received their second AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination on Tongatapu.

With England trapped in what it calls a vicious circle of junk-food consumption, the authors of a government-commissioned review into the nation’s food industry have put sugar and salt in their crosshairs. Poor diet contributes to about 64,000 deaths in England each year, the review found, with Type 2 diabetes projected to cost the National Health Service $20 billion a year by around 2035. Childhood obesity levels in Britain are at a critical level, says the Food Foundation.

To date over 7625 people in Tonga have received their second dose of the COVID-19 Astra-Zeneca vaccine, since the second vaccination roll out started on June 24 in Nuku'alofa. Meanwhile, the Ministry aims to inoculate up to 70 percent of Tonga's population by December this year.

Passengers repatriated from Auckland, New Zealand, last week have tested negative in their first of three COVID-19 tests while in quarantine, confirmed Ministry of Health CEO, Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola today. Three COVID-19 tests are now required from passengers during quarantine.

2,319 people have received their second dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as at this morning, July 1, confirmed the Tonga Ministry of Health.

Quarantine costs for Tongan repatriates will continue to be paid by the Tongan Government confirmed MEIDECC CEO Paula Ma’u. Plans for repatriated passengers to start paying for their quarantine from July have been sidelined for the time being.

The roll out of second doses of COVID-19 vaccine begins tomorrow, 24 June, at the Basilica Church in Nuku’alofa and Vaiola Hospital, in Tongatapu, health officials said today. After receiving the second dose, it takes two to three weeks for the body to react to the vaccine to reach its highest protection level. “Looking at the COVID-19 situation in Fiji, it is a wakeup call for Pacific countries,” said CEO Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola. By Eleanor Gee

Three repatriation flights are on schedule to arrive in Tonga this month, including a chartered flight from Vanuatu on June 22 to take seasonal workers to Australia.